Obama’s Off-Script Moments Lighten Imagery of Trip to Israel

March 20 (Bloomberg) -- From the moment Barack Obama
stepped off Air Force One in Tel Aviv, his first presidential
visit to Israel has been scripted with imagery and statements
aimed at showing his support for Israel and its people.

That didn’t prevent him from wandering off script.

At his arrival ceremony today at Ben Gurion International
Airport, Obama was picked up on camera quipping to Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a side benefit of the trip is
that it was “good to get away from Congress.” Back in
Washington, Obama has been running a “charm offensive” in an
effort to persuade Republican lawmakers to back his deficit-reduction plans.

At the next stop, also on the airport grounds, Obama was
instructed by an official to follow a thin, painted red line to
a structure that housed part of a missile-defense system he was
touring.

With Netanyahu at his side, Obama joked that the prime
minister was always talking to him about “red lines.” It was a
reference to the differences between the U.S. and Israel over
what threshold Iran’s nuclear program would need to cross before
military action is required to stop it.

Other departures from the day’s script were beyond the
president’s control.

Limo Breakdown

One of Obama’s armored presidential limousines broke down,
causing a stir in the local press although Obama wasn’t in the
vehicle at the time. Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret
Service, issued a statement saying that’s why the president
travels with multiple vehicles and a mechanic, and Obama wasn’t
affected.

Another media flurry -- later discounted -- involved
Israeli media reports that, because of agricultural concerns,
the Israelis had dug up a magnolia tree that Obama brought from
the White House and had planted today with Israeli President
Shimon Peres in the garden at Peres’s residence.

Peres spokeswoman Ayelet Frisch said that wasn’t correct.
Instead, the tree was planted with a plastic wrap surrounding
the roots until it can be inspected by the Agriculture Ministry
-- a deal worked out with the White House weeks ago.

“They will come in two or three weeks to see that there’s
nothing unhealthy in the roots,” she said. “All countries have
such rules.”